Desiderius Erasmus

(Desiderius) Erasmus (27 October 1466-12 July 1536) was a Dutch religious reformist who made Greek and Latin editions of the New Testament and also published "On Free Will". He was an opponent of Pope Alexander VI and the Borgia family.

Biography
Desiderius Erasmus was born in Rotterdam in the Burgundian Netherlands, and he became a humanist scholar. He spoke out against the abuses of the church but kept his distance from Martin Luther and Philipp Melanchthon, and was a believer in the Pope's authority over Christendom. His middle road approach angered scholars of Catholicism and Protestantism, as he was a Catholic who believed in free will, but was also an outspoken opponent of the abuses of the church.

In 1503, with King Louis XII of France quarreling with Ferdinand I of Spain over ownership of Naples, Louis left his foreign ministers to command in his absence. The men were Borgia-bought and targeted Erasmus, one of Borgia's opponents. The Assassin Order sent a team led by Ottavio Oliveri to remove Erasmus before the Templars could find him. They were successful, and Erasmus escaped.

Erasmus died in 1536 in Basel, Switzerland, at the age of 70.